Slug casting machine



NOV. 21, L. E. o so SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March '7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet l 1933', L. E. MORRISON SLUCT CASTING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 7, 1932 W ,4 TTORNE-Y:

NOV. 21, 1 933. o lsoN SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 ti. INVENTOR L By KZMW 7% TTORNE Y;

NOV. 21, MORRISON 1,936,255

SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 X 6 \I w H e1 I l 11v VENTOR 222mg TTORNE VS Wi F Em wiv SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 (1 a mmr- INVENTOR .7 B Y Z WWW TTORNE Y5 21, 1933- L. E. MORRISON SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR Z TTORNE VS Nov-'21, 1933. E, MORRISON SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 BY HM mwm M/JWA TTORNE KS Patented Nov. '21 l33 barren stares sLUq CASTING MACHINE Luther E. Morrison, New York; N. Y., assigiior'to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a. corporation of New York Application March '1, 1932. Serial No. 597,192"

Claims. (01. 199--60) This invention relates to slug casting machines, wherein printing slugs or type bars are cast in a slotted moldand delivered by an ejector'advancing from the'rear against the edge of the slug. 5 In these machines, the molds are adjustablein length to produce slugs of dii ferent lengths, as for printing columns or pages of different width, and the ejector employed is therefore constructed so that it may be varied in width to correspond 1 0 with changes in the length of the mold slot.

For instance, as illustrated in U. S. Letters Patent to John R.-.Rogers, No. 967,976, there is commonly employed a composite ejector comprising a series of blades arranged edge to edge in contacting relation, and suitable devices whereby any desired number of blades can be connected with the ejector slide while the others are left free and remain at rest. These ejector blades are quite thin, being made so to serve for the ejection of 'very thin slugs, as well as of the thicker: slugs.

In' recent years, there has tendency to increase the thickness of the printing slugs and to such extent that the ejector above described is sbmetimes found to be incapable of ejecting the slugs'from the molds in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. Thus, it frequently happens that the ejector, because of its thinness, will embed itself in the bottom edges of the slugs .30

slugs, the ejector blades orother parts of the machine will be damaged in the act of ejection. These objections arise particularly with the larger or thicker slugs, which are of the ribbed variety,

1. e., comprise a solid body portion, an overhang-g ing type-carrying portion, and a series of ribs cast on the body portion and giving support to the overhanging portion.

plane.

The presentinvention is intended to overcome these and other objections and contemplates an ejector which may not only be adjusted in width, but which may be adjusted in thickness as Well, so as to be capable of cooperating with slugs of all dimensions, whether long or short or thick or thin. In thespecific embodiment illustrated, the

been 7 a growing a and fail to eject them fully from the mold, or, that, because of undue resistance offered by the In the ejection of such ribbed slugs, the ejector ejector proper comprises two distinctejector sec- 7 tions arranged side by side and mountedin a supportor carrier which isv capable of lateral adjustment to bring either section into operative positionpfor independent use. Each section, is made up of a set of ejectorblades, those of one set having a certainpredetermined thickness and disposed vertically edge to edge in contacting relation, while those of the other set-, although similarly disposed, include blades formed with horizontal ribs or flanges which give to that particular section-a greater eiiective thickness. The ejector or actuating slide (before mentioned) is common to both sections and may be operatively connected to either section'to the exclusionvof the other. i r v When' casting thin slugs, the ejector section comprising the thinner blades is used since they are capable of ejecting such thin slugs; whereas, when casting thicker slugs (usually of the ribbed variety), the otherv section having the flanged bladesis used, the vertically disposed portions of these blades being arranged to engage the slugs by their relatively narrow bodies, and the horizontally disposed flange portions thereof being arranged to engage the slugs by their reinforcing ribs.- In this way, as will be .readily apparent, the effective thickness of theejector proper may be changed at will to correspond to the thicknessor the slugs being cast. H

Provisionisalso made forvarying the widthof either section of the improved ejector to corre-' spond to the yarying lengths of the slugs to be cast; This is accomplished by connecting any selected number of blades of the active section or set to the actuating slide, the selection ofbladesbeing controlled by means of a vertically adjustable bar which canbe set indifferent ver-- tical positions by the operation of a hand lever arranged conveniently at thefront of the machine.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shown merely in preferred .form and by way of example, and obviously many changes and modificationsma-y be made therein and inv its mode of application without departing from the spirit of the invention. Itshould be understood, therefore,that the invention is not limitedto any specific form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are specified'in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings: 1 Fig. l.is a side elevation partly broken away of an ejecting mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view on a slightly enlarged scale showing further details of construction;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation, partly broken away, of the parts shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2 showing the ejector or actuating slide in its normal or retracted position and the ribbed section of the ejector proper in use;

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view showing the connections between the individual ejector blades and their respective slide rods;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing the actuating slide in its forward position and the plain section of the ejector proper in use;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken on the line '77 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 88 of Fig. 6.

The mold wheel A is provided with two or more slug casting molds A A which are adjustable both as to length and width of the mold slot or cavity. Ordinarily, four molds of different sizes are mounted on the wheel, and the latter is manually adjusted to bring any selected mold into use. The mold A (Fig. 6) is representative of the kind used for casting the thin slugs, while the mold A (Fig. 4) is representative of the kind used for casting the thicker slugs. The thin slugs are usually of the plain or solid variety, whereas the thicker slugs are usually of the ribbed or recessed variety as shown in Fig. 2, where itwill be seen that the ribbed slug therein illustrated comprises a solid body portion 1, an overhanging type-carrying portion 2, and a series of ribs 3 cast on the side of the body portion and giving support to the overhanging portion. The mold A for casting such a ribbed slug is of course shaped or fashioned to correspond, it being sufficient to say that the ribs 3 are cast in fore-andaft grooves formed in the cap portion of the mold. If any further information is desired as to the form or construction of the mold and slugs, reference may be had to the Hall Patent, No. 665,212.

The mold wheel A (see Fig. 3)'is mounted for 1 rotation upon the lateral arm A of a fore-andaftmold slide A which latter is moved forwardly and backwardly in suitable guideways' to carry the active mold, first (i. e., at the time of casting) into and out of contact with the composed matrix line, and later (i. e., at the time of ejection) into and out of operative relation to the trimming knives, all in the usual way.

Coming now to the present invention, the improved ejecting mechanism includes as usual a fore-and-aft actuating slide B mounted for reciprocation in the mold slide A and operated in the regular way through a connecting link B from the main drive shaft of the machine. The ejector proper comprises two distinct sections C and'D arranged side by side and supported in a suitable frame or carrier E which is adjustable laterally in opposite directions to bring one section or the other into operative position.

The ejector section C is made up of a set of blades C arranged edge to edge in the regular way so as to produce collectively a composite blade of a given uniform thickness and capable of ejecting the thin unrecessed slugs from the molds A whereas, the ejector section D is made up of a set of blades D D which differ in form so as to produce a composite blade of a greater effective thickness and capable of ejecting thicker slugs of the recessed variety from the molds A The blades D of the section D are identical with the blades C of the section C,

while the blades D thereof are formed with lateral ribs or flanges d of a predetermined width.

As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the blades 13 and D are disposed alternately one above the other and the flanges d are spaced apart so as to agree with the spacing of the slug ribs 3. The purchase of the section D upon a slug at the time of ejection will, therefore, be distributed on both sides of 5 central plane, the vertical portions of the blades D and the intermediate blades D being adapted to engage the body portions 1 of the slug, and the flanges d to engage the ribbed portions 3 thereof. Possible damage to the ejecting mechanism is thus averted and a perfect delivery of the slug is assured.

The frame E (see Fig. 2) is slidably mounted in a pocket or recess A formed in the mold slide A and guided in its movement by means of tongue and groove connections E The movement of the frame E in one direction (toward the left, according to Figs. '7 and 8) is opposed by a pair of compression springs A seated in corresponding recesses A formed in the mold slide, and tending to move the frame in the opposite direction into engagement with a pair of stop or retaining screws N.

In the present embodiment illustrated, the adjustment of the frame E is effected by the manual operation of a crank arm 0, which may be set in different positions according to the ejector section to be selected. The crank arm 0 (best shown in Fig. 3) is attached to the front end of a short rock shaft 0 and provided with a spring latch 0 controlled by a finger button 0 and arranged to cooperate with a pair of notches 22 29 formed in a fixed segmental plate P. At its rear end (see Fig. 1), the rock shaft 0 is provided with an upright arm 0 which is loosely connected to the frame E through the medium of a cross pin e, the latter being anchored between a pair of lugs e projecting from the contiguous side face of the frame. The space allowed between the lugs e permits the reciprocation of the mold slide to take place in the regular way during the casting and ejecting periods without interfering with the arm 0 According to the above arrangement, when the crank arm 0 by means of the button 0 is swung to the position shown by the full lines in Fig. 3, the frame E will be pushed inwardly by the arm 0 and, as the latch O is allowed to engage the notch p the ejector section D will be locked in operative position (see Figs. 4 and 7). Conversely, when the crank arm 0 is swung to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, the frame E will be pushed outwardly by the springs A into engagement with the banking screws A and, asthe latch O is allowed to engage the notch p the ejector section C will be locked in operative position (see Figs. 6 and 8) The ejector sections C D are actuated by the ejector slide B through the medium of a single set of fore-and-aft slide rods F and a vertical adjustable bar G arranged to engage rectangular lugs f formed on the rear ends of the said rods. As the section C or the section D is brought into active position, connections between the individual blades thereof and the slide rods F are established by means of upstanding lugs f formed on the front ends of the sa rods and corresponding notches c or al foilned in the rear ends of the blades C or D and D (see 2 and 5). The slide rods F are mounted and in the mold slide A and, during the reciprocation of the ejector slide 13, are adapted to obtain-similar support in the frame E, the latterfor this purpose -fisee- Figs. =7- and 8)- being formed with two series of superpo'sedslots' E and'E which extend through 'theframefrom froht to rear and are-brought into registry with the slides under thedifferent adjustments-of the frame. The blades c as well as the blades D and D are red-uced in-width at their rear ends adjoining the notches c and d (see Fig. 5) so as to clear the rods F as the frame E is adjusted laterally.

The construction of the ejector or actuating slide B, the bar G, and the means provided for adjusting said bar, are similar in all respects to the corresponding mechanism used in the commercial linotype machines or as illustrated in the Rogers Patent No. 967,976, before referred to. Thus, the bar G is mounted as usual to slide vertically in a grooved guideway b formed in the actuating slide B, the opposite edges of the groove snugly engaging the opposite edges of the bar so that the latter is caused to move forwardly and backwardly with the actuating slide. At its lower end, the bar G is slidably supported upon a long fore-and-aft rod G carried by a vertically adjustable slide G which is operable by a hand lever G extended to the front of the machine.

By means ofthis arrangement, the bar G may be set in different positions to connect the actuating slide B with any desired number of the blades in either the ejector section C or the ejector section D, according to the adjusted position of the frame E or according to which section happens to be in use at the time. For example, the member G, as shown in Fig. 2, is set to connect twelve blades (counting from the bottom) of the ejector section D with the actuating slide B, leaving the two uppermost blades free or disconnected from 'ZO. i

the slide. Consequently, when the slide B is moved forward to expel .the cast slug from the mold, the bar G is moved with it, its forward edge engaging the lugs f on the rear ends of the appropriate slides F, which are thus pushed forwardly and through the lugs f actuate the selected ejector blades D and D (see Figs. 4 and 5) During the return stroke of the actuating slide B, a rib or shoulder b formed thereon, and located in advance of the lugs f, engages the latter and by such engagement draws back the slides F and the connected blades D and D When the section C is in use, the blades C are selected and operated in the regular way or as set forth in the aforementioned Rogers patent.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the improved ejecting mechanism includes an ejector proper comprising two composite in-, terchangeable ejector sections of different effective thicknesses, either of which may be selected at will, altered in width and opcratively connected to the common actuating slide B. Furthermore, variations in width of the ejector sections C and D are effected by means also common to both sections, including the selecting bar -G, the hand lever G and the intermediate connecting devices before described.

Havingthus described my invention, what I claim is: s

1. In or for a slug casting machine, a slug ejecting machanism having an ejector proper comprising two distinct ejector sections of different effective thicknesses, each of said sections being variable in width and usable independently of the other section.

2. In or for a slug casting machine, a slug eject- ;ing mechanism having an ejector proper'comprising two distinct ejector sections. variablein width, and means for selecting either section .for independent use. 1i

+3. In or for-a slug casting machine, a. slugejecting mechanism having an ejector proper zoomprising :two "distinct ejector sections variable. in

width, a movable support foribothnsections, and

means for adjusting "the support to bring either sectioninto use, as desired. I I L 4. A slug ejecting mechanism as specified in claim 2 characterized by the fact that the individual sections of the ejector proper are made up of a series of ejector blades.

5. In or for a slug casting machine, a slug ejecting mechanism having an ejector proper comprising two composite ejector sections variable in Width, an actuatingv slide common to both sec- 3 each section being usable independently of the other section and variable in width when in use.

7. A slug ejecting mechanism as specified in claim 6 characterized by the fact that each ejector section is made up of a series of blades and that the said projecting flanges are formed on certain selected blades of one series.

8. In or for a slugcasting machine, a slug ejecting mechanism having an ejector proper comprising two composite ejector sections of different thicknesses, means operable at will for selecting either'section for independent use, and means for varying the effective width of the selected section. I

9. In or for a slug casting machine, a slug ejecting mechanism having two distinct sets of ejector blades, means for selecting either set for independent use, an actuating slide common to both unitary means operable at will for varying the ef-.

fective width of both sections.

12. A slug ejecting mechanism as specified in claim 10 including an actuating slide common'toboth ejector sections and characterized by the fact that the said adjusting means is also common to both ejector sections.

. 13. In or for a slug. casting machine, a slug ejecting mechanism having an ejector proper comprising two distinct ejector sections arranged side by side, one section being made up of a series of blades of a given thickness and disposed vertically edge to edge in contacting relation, and the other section being made up of a series of similarly disposed blades,'certain of which are formed with horizontally disposed ribs or flanges to give them a greater eifective thickness, means for selecting either section for independent use,

either set into the operative position, a common actuating slide, and .means for connecting different selected numbers of blades of the active set to said slide. I

15. A slug ejecting mechanism asspecified in claim 14 characterized by the fact that the blades of one of the sets therein referred to are of a given thickness and that certain blades of the other set are of a greater effective thickness.

LUTHER E. MORRISON. 

